The storage of bulk liquids in fifty-five gallon drums on the exterior of buildings is well-known. The drums might contain diesel fuel, pesticides, paint thinner or hundreds of other liquids. The problem is that when a painted metal drum is exposed to the elements for a sustained period of time, rust will begin to form in the cracks of the paint and the chipped areas. Ordinarily such drums are stored in the upright position and water will collect in the top depression, up to the level of the rim. The top of the drum and the rim form a shallow container where rain will collect and snow will settle and melt. The result is a wetting by precipitation and drying by sun evaporation in a sequential but non-uniform pattern.
Various remedies have been suggested for overcoming the problem of water collecting on the top of the drum. The first and most obvious solution is to store the drums on their sides and that is certainly satisfactory in some circumstances, but it will certainly take more time and it will certainly reduce the available storage space and increase the cost of apparatus for holding the drums in place. Obviously, a drum in the upright position is not going to move on a slightly inclined floor, but the same cannot be said for the cylindrical drum on its side.
There is another reason for storing the drums in upright position and it is the conventional practice today to move the filled drums by a fork lift which is designed to engage the upper rim of the barrel. Should the barrel be stored in horizontal position, the forklift engagement would not be possible. Using the forklift to transport filled drums by lying on their sides requires a pallet with wedges. The wedges would keep the drum from rolling off the pallet. The pallet is required to insure that the prongs of the lift do not accidentally puncture the drum side as they slide beneath the drum.
Another mechanism for keeping liquids from collecting in the top of the barrel is to apply a plastic lid over the top thereof. At the present time, the cost is $5.00 per barrel lid. In addition to the obvious problem of cost, the lid is easily broken, particularly in cold weather.
Neither of the suggested systems for maintaining water out of the barrel top is satisfactory, and accordingly, the invention described herein includes an inexpensive, easily applied, automatic siphon mechanism which may be applied to the top of the drum manually and reused with an additional drum if desirable.